Non-fiction text structures organize information into comprehensible patterns. Knowing how to recognize and use these structures to navigate non-fiction text greatly improves students’ understanding of what they read.

Gail Saunders-Smith simplifies the process by providing teachers of grades 4-8 with:

• ways to teach each of the five non-fiction text structures: compare/contrast, cause/effect, sequence/procedure, question/answer, and exemplification;
• engaging whole-class and small-group activities using written, verbal, image, three-dimensional, and technology responses;
• study skills for locating, recording, and using information;
• tools for assessing student understanding, and explanations of the text features that organize information within the text structures; and
• mini-lessons for whole-class, small-group, and independent application of students' text structure knowledge.

Examples, photographs, student samples, and graphic organizers support your teaching, and a bibliography of professional books and resources for locating leveled non-fiction texts make this a complete, ready-to-use guide for improving student comprehension.